A Line Allows Progress, A Circle Does Not
by WP
Summary: Paige needed some alone time. Her sisters haven't seen her in two months. What happened?
1. Default Chapter

AN: Hey. There are some more stories before this one, you should read them first. Read on and hope you like it. Feedback would be nice.

**A Line Allows Progress, A Circle Does Not**

Piper Halliwell padded down the stairs of the Victorian home she shared with her family. Like every other night for the past couple of months, she couldn't sleep. At night her mind raced with worry and fear that the youngest sister, Paige, was hurt or... dead.

She'd been missing since the day she'd woke up after being poisoned by a demon. It made her think she had done something terrible and made it real in her mind, that was all they knew. They had searched everywhere for her using both magical and natural methods and every time they'd failed to find.

Darryl had used his connections to be alerted whenever someone matching Paige's description was sighted or admitted to hospital. That meant they'd went to ID a lot of Jane Doe's to the point they were on first name terms with the morgue attendants.

As she walked through the foyer, she spotted a silhouette in the dark living room: Prue.

It was a regular occurrence that Prue was up all night. She'd been beating herself up over not being able to find Paige and just letting her leave in the first place. She sat opposite her big sister.

Prue blinked herself back to reality. "Can't sleep?" She asked.

Piper shook her head.

"What's wrong?" She prodded further.

Piper looked at Prue as if to say, 'you know what's wrong.'

Prue sighed, "I know."

"Today was..." Piper couldn't even find a word to describe how she felt about their day. "I thought it was her. The hair and... it wasn't a split second no like the other's. I thought she was really dead on that steel tray."

Prue had to fight back her own tears and realised if she said anything, all that would come out were her sobs. Instead she got up and sat next to Piper, pulling her into a hug.

The morgue had called them around 2 and asked them to ID a body, a woman matching Paige's description completely. Prue and Piper had been the only 2 home and they had decided to go alone. Alerting Phoebe, Glenn and Leo would only cause them more pain.

When the doctor pulled back the sheet. Piper had saw her. She had seen the blue and dead face of her sister.

Then she saw the real body in front of her, that's all it was, a nameless shell. She thought about how the woman who looked so much like her little sister might have had no one to care that she was dead. Or worse, there were people out there searching for her, scared something so terrible had actually happened to her.

"Do you think she's ok?" Piper asked.

Prue nodded, "I think she's confused and when we find her, she'll be ok."

Piper wiped her face and sat up. They couldn't just sit and cry, that wouldn't help. "You want some tea?"

Prue nodded, "Sure."


	2. Part 2

AN: Hey. There are some more stories before this one, you should read them first. Read on and hope you like it. Feedback would be nice. Thanks for all your reviews, it's good to see some familiar names.

Part 2 

Paige Halliwell orbed into her room. The room she shared with her fiancé Glenn, however he wasn't in bed. By her watch it was around 3 am. Maybe he'd stayed behind late to help out at P4.

She considered just going straight to bed but she thought her sisters would prefer she woke them up just to tell them she was home. She felt horrible about not telling them where she was going but she just needed a few hours completely alone to think. It'd only been a day so they wouldn't be that annoyed.

Walking into the next room it was Piper's. She slowly opened the door in case there was something going on she wasn't meant to see. To her surprise there was no one there either. She was starting to get a little spooked.

Next door she began to open slowly as well but this time she saw Phoebe sitting at her desk just staring back at her.

"Hey. I was starting to think this was the twilight zone or som-"

Phoebe tackling her in a hug causing them to crash ungracefully to the floor cut off Paige.

"Pheebs, what's wrong?" Paige asked seriously scared something had happened.

Phoebe reluctantly pushed herself off Paige. She didn't know what to ask first. There were so many questions. She stroked her sister's cheek. "Are you ok?"

Paige made her 'keep the crazy people happy' face. "Yah huh. Are you ok? You're acting kind of... insane."

Phoebe frowned. "It's been over 2 months. I can't be overly happy to see you?"

"Two months?? Since what? I saw you yesterday, Pheebs. Did you hit your head, sweetie?" Paige asked seriously as she looked for some kind of obvious wound.

"What? No. Paige, you've been gone for two months. Since you woke up from the demon thing. We haven't been able to find you anywhere." Phoebe explained as she tried to keep her confusion to a minimum.

Paige sat there with her mouth agape before laughing. "Good one. I'm not gonna fall for that. Where do you get the energy to prank people at 3?"

Phoebe thought for a second about how likely it was she had imagined the whole thing. Then she remembered what they'd been through and knew she hadn't. "Paige, I haven't seen you in over two months, none of us have. We've had the entire SFPD on alert; we've been to morgue's every other day. We've called everyone you've ever known, we scryed for you for a month straight. We even searched the underworld once."

Paige was speechless. She was sure she had only been gone for a day. Now Phoebe explained what they'd all been through she felt horrible.

"Where were you?" Phoebe asked tearfully. She was just so thankfully Paige was back home, safe.

"I was 'up there'." Before she could continue Phoebe interrupted.

"You never knew time moves a lot faster 'up there'?" She asked.

"No! It moves faster?"

"Yeah. When Piper first went up she thought she was gone a day... it was a couple of months." Phoebe explained.

Paige sighed. "I never knew."

Phoebe pulled her into another, less bone shattering hug. "I'm just glad your back. We should go tell Prue and Piper."

Paige nodded, "Yeah. Piper's not in her room and Glenn wasn't in ours."

Phoebe helped her sister up. "I heard Piper get up earlier. Prue's probably down there too."

Paige and Phoebe made their way down stairs, Paige knowing that her sisters not sleeping was down to her stupid screw up.

Paige found herself pummelled by Piper's bear hug just as Phoebe's. This time she understood the ferocity and hugged back trying to provide some comfort.

Piper had a thousand and one questions in hr mind but she didn't ask any yet she just enjoyed knowing Paige was fine and in her arms.

Prue was the only one not involved in the celebratory hugging. She stood, paralysed in place in the living where she'd first spotted Paige.

After a few minutes Paige was released from her older sisters hugs. It was then she fully realised the rather large belly Piper was sporting. It was then she accept that she really had been gone so long.

Piper was having a super hard time stopping herself from sobbing but lately she had that problem a lot, pregnancy hormones were driving her insane but when Paige looked at her and then back down to the bump in awe she happily let the tears trail down her face. Paige carefully laid a hand on her belly then kneeled down and said hello to her little niece.

Paige had a little conversation with her soon to be baby neice then stood up and gave Piper another hug. When she pulled back she found Prue staring at her and gave her a small smile. Then Prue was up in her face.

"Where the hell have you been?!" She shouted and continued without waiting for an answer. "What the fuck were you thinking?! Do you know how worried we've been?! You can't just take off for two months and let me think you're dead!!" Prue finished as she stood there breathing hard, face red and the anger in her eyes turning into tears.

Paige could see that Prue had just let her anger take over because Paige had them so worried for so long. Prue's word's hurt but they were allowed considering .She gently took her sister's hand, all the way keeping eye contact.

Prue gave in to her emotions and pulled the youngest into the biggest hug. She couldn't contain her tears any longer as she cried into Paige's shoulder. After a few minutes she collected herself and pulled away.

Piper took her turn to speak. "Your not off the hook yet, Missy. You have some explaining to do."


	3. Part 3

AN: Hey. There are some more stories before this one, you should read them first. Read on and hope you like it. Feedback would be nice. Thanks for all your reviews, it's good to see some familiar names and new things. Sorry it took so long to update, had a busy week.

Part 3 

The sister's all sat around the kitchen. Piper had placed warm tea in front of them. Now all three stared at Paige patiently waiting for an explanation to her absence.

She smiled nervously letting out a small chuckle. "Uh... I left here yesterday after talking with Willow and Prue. I wanted a few hours on my own to just think but the park and the coffee shop were all too loud and filled with too many people. So, I decided I'd orb 'up there'. Seemed like a smart choice since it's meant to be all peaceful and tranquil. I went up and found a little corner none of the whitelighter's were. And I sat and I thought things over. I knew I was a little longer than I thought but 2 months is just..." She shook her head unable to find the words.

She looked up at everyone of her sister's. "I'm so sorry. If I'd have known that there was such a tragic time difference, I would never have gone."

Each one heard the sincerity in her voice and knew it was an honest mistake. They were the ones who never told her time moved faster in Elder land.

"We understand. I guess this was all just another big understanding. But how come we couldn't find you even with magic? We got Leo to go to the Elder's and they said they had no idea where you were." Phoebe said.

Paige frowned, "I don't know, that part's weird. Maybe it works like the underworld, can't sense down there or up there."

"No but Leo would have been able to sense you whenever he was 'up there'" Piper added.

Prue took her turn to speak up. "The Elder's must have taken you off our radar. Hidden you from us and lied to us."

Paige looked at Prue with guilt swimming in her eyes. "I think they done me a favour." When she saw her sister's about to start arguing she continued, "Not the 2 months thing but I needed to be alone and think about things. Maybe for once they done the right thing."

"What did you need to think about?" Piper asked knowing that someone had to.

Paige sighed. "After I came out of the hallucination world, I just felt really screwed up. It had all been so real and I'd felt all these feelings. I thought for a while about if I really wanted to be a witch and have demons after us all the time. It feels like We've been going round in a circle for a long time. A demon pops up, one of us, mostly me, gets hurt, there's fear and pain and then we vanquish the demon."

"The more I thought about it, the more I realised that I forgot about the innocent's we save every time we vanquish a demon. We're taking down the underworld one evil being at a time and it's all worth. Sacrifices suck but if this our destiny I may as well accept it." She explained.

Piper and Phoebe were up and at Paige's side giving her supportive hugs. They understood more of what their sister had been feeling. That she was getting kicked around and almost killed and faced with losing her family everyday for no reason.

"You make a difference. We all make a difference." Prue said quietly. When she had everyone's attention she continued. "I could see how much you were all helping thousands of people. When I was dead, I could link everything back. One person touches so many people's lives and by saving them, we save and protect all the people around them."

"Makes it all seem so clear cut." Phoebe added.

Piper looked at her. "It is."

Paige looked at each of her sisters seated around the table. They'd been talking over things for a while now and it was almost morning. One thing just wasn't right, she hadn't heard Glenn come in.

"Guys, where's Glenn?" She asked.

Her three older sisters shared awkward glances. Piper took the lead. "Honey, Glenn didn't feel comfortable staying here without you. He's been staying with one of his friends for a while now."

Paige stood up, "Well, who's he staying with? I should go explain to him, bring him back home."

Phoebe spoke up, "He's at Andrew's."

Paige nodded. "I'll be back soon. Love you." She said as she orbed out.


	4. Part 4

AN: Hey. There are some more stories before this one, you should read them first. Read on and hope you like it. Feedback would be nice. Everyone read Paige Halliwell's stories. And dude, update soon.

Part 4 

Paige orbed straight to Andrew's apartment and knocked on the door. She heard some fumbling around then finally he opened the door. Andrew stood with bed head and a pair or boxers on. Paige smiled awkwardly then Andrew pulled her into a hug finally realising it was her.

"Paige! Thank god you're ok." He exclaimed

Paige gasped for air. "Andy, air!" He let go, pulling himself together. "right. Sorry. Reserved face." He said as he gave her back her personal space. She'd known him for years, Andrew was part of the group of friends Glenn and her shared.

"Is Glenn-"

"Yeah sure, come on in. He's in the spare room." He said pointing to it. "I'll be back in my room." He said before he disappeared, probably planning on sleeping some more.

Paige opened the door and found Glenn curled up on the bed. He looked like a little grabbing on to the covers.

She perched on the side of the bed and ran her hand through his ever messy hair before laying a gentle kiss on his cheek. He began to wake up, blinking to get the sleep from his eyes then he saw her: Paige sitting on the edge of the bed smiling down at him.

His breath caught in his throat as he froze. Moving might cause her to disappear. He knew he was dreaming. He'd dreamt a lot about her.

"I'm back. I'm so sorry, baby." She whispered in his ear.

This was different, he thought. He reached out and stroked her face. She was real. Paige was really back. He threw his arms around her and held her for an eternity.

Paige rubbed Glenn's back. She could feel him crying. "Shhh. it's ok. I'm right here."

Glenn pulled away. "Why did you leave?" he asked quietly.

She wiped his tears then filled him in on what had happened. Glenn was still having a hard time understanding.

"But, we couldn't find you. Your sister's tried every spell, they summoned demons and I looked everywhere that ever meant something to you. We've been to ID bodies. I thought you were dead!"

Paige was floored at Glenn's revelations. Her sister's hadn't told her of the extremes they went to. She could only imagine the complete hell they'd been through. She hadn't noticed that Glenn was now up and had his jeans on. She looked up at him teary eyed and ready to apologise again but he spoke first.

"I think I should keep staying here. We should spend some time apart. You can have a chance to think things over. Most of my stuff is all ready here but if you box the rest, I'll pick it up." Glenn quickly left the room, the entire time avoiding eye contact.

Paige sat there stunned. Had Glenn, her long time love and fiancé, seriously just broken up with her?

Paige orbed back into the manor. She couldn't bare the thought of going into the room she'd shared with Glenn for so long so she went to Piper's room and knocked on the door. She heard Piper grumble sleeper and tell her to come in.

Piper rubbed her eyes to see Paige standing in the door. It was obvious something was very wrong. She sat up. "Honey, What happened?"

Paige shrugged. "Uh... he broke up with me." She could barely get the words out. It made them real.

Piper gave her a sympathetic smile. She was worried that Glenn had been too freaked to deal. She thought he was better than that but she was obviously mistaken. Throwing back the bed covers she held out an arm.

Paige gratefully lay down and as soon as she was in Piper's comforting arms the dam she had created shattered and she sobbed.

Piper tried every method she'd learned in her life to calm Paige. She was relieved when Paige eventually cried herself to out and fallen asleep. Piper figured it'd been a couple of days since she'd really slept. The older sister eventually fell asleep as well because for the first time in 2 months her mind was at rest.


	5. Part 5

AN: Hey. There are some more stories before this one, you should read them first. Read on and hope you like it. Feedback would be nice. Sorry about the lack of updates, started Uni and it's a little time consuming in the good way lol.

Part 5 

Piper slowly came out of her sleep. She hadn't felt so rested in forever. That could probably be put down to her not waking up every twenty minutes. She remembered Paige coming to her the night before. She looked to her right to see Paige lying on her side staring at the pillow.

"Hey." She said as she moved the hair from Paige's face. "How about we go wake up the other two and eat junk food till we're sick. Or in my case, till morning sickness comes." She suggested.

Paige struggled to force the lump in her throat back down. Piper was pregnant with her first niece and she had missed an entire two months of it.

Piper instantly regretted her stupid morning sickness crack as Paige's face fell even further. She decided to move on.

"Did you get much sleep?" She inquired.

Paige shrugged. "I got enough." Her voice was so unusual flat and effortless.

The elder sister took charge. She wouldn't let Paige lie in bed and wallow. "Up. Go have a shower then come down stairs. PJ's only."

Paige thought about protesting but she knew better than to piss off Piper, especially a pregnant one.

Piper went straight to Prue's door and knocked on it loudly then proceeded to do the same to Phoebe's. She heard two sets of staggering feet then they both opened there doors, bed head and sleepy eyes matching. She couldn't help but smirk then she remembered what she had to wake them for.

"Wakey wakey. We're having a sister day, PJ's and lots of unhealthy food."

"Why right now?" Prue mumbled.

Piper sighed. "Because Glenn broke up with Paige and we're going to support her."

Both sisters were instantly awake at this news. They'd all had their suspicion's by the way Glenn had been acting. He had freaked and they all knew it.

Phoebe turned back into her room. "I'll be ready in a few."

Prue was glaring at nothing in particular.

"Don't Prue. We have to be there for Paige, not try and kill Glenn." Piper said knowing what her big sister was contemplating.

Prue sighed. "I know, I know. 'No killing mortals.'" She quoted sarcastically as she too went back to her room and get ready.

Piper also went back to her room but this time she called on Leo. It didn't take long for him to appear in front of her.

Leo gave his wife a big grin, "Hey you." Then he put a hand on her belly and bent down, "Hey little girl." He said as he gently rubbed her bump.

Piper smiled down at his cooing over the baby. When he was done she put her arms around his neck and rested her head on his chest.

Leo was a little confused to Piper's tight grip on him, though it was probably hormones. He rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head. When she was ready to pull he sat down on the bed beside her.

"You ok?"

Piper nodded. "I just realised how lucky I am to have you."

The whitelighter couldn't help but smile. "oh yeah?"

Piper kissed him, "yeah. Glenn broke up with Paige."

Leo was shocked, he always thought Glenn was completely committed and he'd been just as worried as the rest of them while Paige was missing. "What? Why?" He asked.

Piper shrugged sadly. "The witch thing I guess. That's why I'm so lucky. You understand and you're a part of it."

Leo pulled her in for another hug, still being careful of Piper's ever increasing belly. "I'll always be here for you and our little girl."

Piper relaxed in Leo's arms. "I know." She said sincerely.

Paige felt like each step she took hurt and it was all so drawn out just to get down the stairs that the hurt was long lasting. She just had this knot in her stomach that would tighten.

After an eternity she got to the living room where her sisters were all gathered. The three were looking at her with sympathy in their eyes and it was obvious they had no idea what to say or do.

"It's ok..." Se started then cut herself off. "That's crap. It's not ok, it really sucks but things happen for a reason, right?" She said with a teary smile.

Prue got up and put her arm around Paige. "How about a truck load of Chinese food?"

"For breakfast?" Paige asked. "Hell yeah."

Prue gave her a grin then went to get the menu.


End file.
